I had come home from going up to Silverdale and walked in the front door. My wlife was sitting in the living room looking at pictures. Shortly after that, the lights started going on and off. And then they stayed out. It was pretty windy and of course really strong winds + above-ground power lines they refuse to bury + trees equals a power outage. Not just for us, but for a lot of the Puget Sound.
It's funny, the freeway seems to be a dividing line between "power" and "darkness." This has been the case with just about every power outage we've experienced since moving here. We just happen to live on the wrong side of the freeway, I guess.
Anyway, because it sounded like things were going to be nasty and PSEhad no idea when power would be restored, we decided not to mess aroundand book ourselves a room at a local hotel, which is about 10 minutes from our house and just on the other side of the freeway which, surprise, surprise, has power. We packed up for the evening, expecting to be there all night, and checked in.
After a lovely dinner of McD's (not my first choice, but the kids wanted it and it's right there), we went to the pool, which of course the kids love. Yammy came over to join us and we traded children in the pool, since neither of them can swim. Jaden managed to get all the way into the hot tub, too. I guess he's no longer allowed to complain about the bathtub being too hot now.
Anyway, during the madness, we got a call from my father-in-law who said "the power's back on." The thought of Gracie sleeping in an actual bed was a bit too much to bear, not to mention trying to get her to sleep in a room full of everybody, etc, we decided she needed to go home. Of course, that meant one adult had to go, and Gracie decided mommy should take her home--big surprise there. Jaden and I were planning to stay at the hotel--we paid for the night, after all.
Jaden ultimately decided he wanted to go home, however, even though we were all ready for bed and had watched a little TV for special, despite it being past bedtime. So the hotel room was packed up, swept for stuff, and we checked out and went home. Jaden finally went to sleep at 10pm on a school night! Ugh, he's going to be a pain to wake up. Oh crap, it's 1:30am and I have to get up early too.
Anyway, the power outage cost us a night in a hotel rool we ultimately didn't use too much, though we did use the pool. Perhaps not the best use of money, but when you have no idea whether or not you're going to get power back anytime soon, then you do what you gotta do to keep warm.